Story Tellers
by abrynne
Summary: Now the Doctor's new companion, Alice Crown, Jack, and The Doctor find themselves in the middle of a world so familiar but completely fictional run by a childlike alien race that collects fairy stories for a mysterious purpose. The 3rd adventure.
1. Chapter 1 Over the Rainbow

Note: This is the 3rd adventure in the Alice Crown series. Please see the previous two stories before starting this one :)  
1) The Long Brown Coat  
2) True Color  
(Both can be found here at )

--

Chapter 1 - Over the Rainbow

The Doctor twisted around, took me by the arm and jerked me back to my feet. "Sorry about that. Are you alright?"  
I nodded, "What's happening?"

"Doctor," Jack called as the TARDIS rocked again. "We're landing."  
"What? Where?" The Doctor hurried over to Jack as I held onto the console to keep myself upright.

Jack shrugged as all of the noise and the shaking stopped. The TARDIS engine faded and everything went quiet in the room. The three of us looked at each other in turn. No one spoke for a moment.  
"Are we back home?" I said tripping as I got back up again.  
"I doubt it," Jack said. "The readings aren't telling of anything conclusive."

The Doctor slapped a bit of the controls with the back of his hand.  
"Does that help?" I asked innocently.  
"Of course it does," he grumbled.  
"We could be anywhere," Jack said.

"Well," the Doctor said. "The environment outside is stable," he reasoned. He caught my eye and smiled. All three of us made our way to the ramp and walked to the door.

"Are you sure we landed somewhere?" I said as I poked my head out of the door. I looked up at Jack who appeared just as baffled as I was.  
We could see nothing but a vast space of white as far as the eye could see – like we were staring out at an endless sheet of paper.

The Doctor poked his head out next to mine, "Well that's not very interesting."  
"Where's the light coming from?" I said. The entire space was white, above, below and to both sides and we could see it clearly as though it was reflecting light from somewhere.  
"Good question," Jack replied.

"It's not the Void, there'd be no light." The Doctor mumbled.  
"That's comforting," Jack said with a roll of his eyes.  
"Sorry, but what's the Void?"  
"It is as it sounds," the Doctor explained. "It's the space in between realities – absolute nothingness."

I furrowed my brow as I tried to imagine it. But I couldn't wrap my brain around it. "If it's nothing, right? Then there wouldn't be any space would there? Space is _something_ isn't it?"  
"Well, I'm done," Jack said.

"The TARDIS landed – it's _landed_. We're on a solid surface with an atmosphere, gravity but – " the Doctor shook his head and ran his hand over his chin.  
He was right to be frustrated. I looked down and saw the base of the TARDIS. Beyond that was more whiteness. From what I saw we could've been floating in the middle of a white ball of paper for all that we knew.

My back was tiring of being hunched over and peeking out of the small door. "Well, if it's a solid surface…" I said, looking at the boys.  
"There's only one way to find out," the Doctor said, taking my hand in his. I found Jack's hand and the three of us held on tightly to each other as the Doctor counted. "One…two…three – "  
We stepped out in a three person chain into the endless white space. There was something beneath my feet but that's all I had time to realize. The light grew brighter around us until I couldn't see Jack of the Doctor anymore. I didn't feel their touch, though I tried reaching out to them for any sign that they were there. But I fell.

The white surface fell away and I dropped, falling forever and ever until something stopped me with a bump.  
Thankfully I landed on something soft. My eyes adjusted themselves to the light grays of the room I was in. Even my skin looked a dull shade of gray. I'd fallen onto a bed in a strange old fashioned bedroom. It looked like the bedroom was part of an old farmhouse of some kind. Definitely from Earth though. The room itself was a shambles. Paper and clutter everywhere like a storm had blown through it.

My clothes had changed as well. I was in a simple grey dress that was over a white blouse – white socks and black shoes were on my feet as well. I picked at the skirt with my fingers. It definitely felt real. As I looked down, however, a brown mass of hair fell over my shoulder. I put my hands up to my head. My short crop was gone, replaced by long brown hair that was braided into two long plaits at the sides of my head.

I stumbled out of the room calling for Doctor and Jack but no answer came to me. I was alone in this seemingly dull world. The entire house looked so drab, made of blacks and grays as though it hadn't seen sunshine since it had been built. I had to lean on one wall as I walked through a short hallway. Along with being made of a dull color, the house seemed tilted to one side. I finally reached the front door and rushed over to open it so maybe, whatever was outside would help me make sense of the situation.

The door creaked open and I gasped. The colors outside were vibrant, bright, and lively. I stepped onto a road made of brick and examined my hands and clothes again. My skin was back to its original color and my dress was a blue and white checked pattern and my socks weren't white, they were blue to match the dress.  
Everything had suddenly become dreadfully familiar. There was a bark somewhere around the vicinity of my ankles and I looked down. A small scraggly looking dog came padding up to me from the house and stood right next to my feet. I stared at it and it stared right back with big brown eyes.

It couldn't be – it couldn't _possibly_ be! My brain was telling my eyes repeatedly that what I was seeing wasn't real. But I wasn't hallucinating, I wasn't asleep. I had somehow fallen into this world – well, actually an exact replica of the world I was already very familiar with.

I stepped farther away from the house, the little dog following me when I noticed the road was made of yellow brick. I groaned as my suspicions were confirmed. "Doctor," I called out. "Doctor? Captain Jack?" I turned completely around, hoping to see a face I knew but instead I saw the red and white striped legs protruding from beneath the house. The ruby slippers were still on the feet. "Oh, please," I squeaked softly. "Answer me."

I walked down the road, rounded a corner and finally saw someone else. A woman with long red curly hair wearing a soft pink dress and a crown on the top of her head smiled as she saw me.  
"Welcome, Dorothy," she said in a silky voice.  
"That is not my name," I said angrily as I marched up to her. "Where am I?"  
"But you already know that, my dear. This is Munchkin Land."  
I folded my arms in front of me, "Where are they then?"  
"Where are who, dear?"  
"The Munchkins,"

She only smiled sappily and waved he long glittering stick she held in her lily white hand. "You have done it!" she exclaimed. "You have dropped your house on the Wicked Witch of the East – "  
"That's not my house!" I yelled, pointing my finger at the dilapidated structure lying on top of those legs wearing those sad looking socks. "Where am I and what have you done with my friends?"  
Her eyes flashed but she continued smiling, "You must continue the story, Dorothy," her voice had turned icy.  
"The story?"

A loud bang pierced my ears followed by a puff of smoke and flame. Sure enough and right on cue the Wicked Witch of the West appeared with a hooked nose and green skin wearing black from head to foot. She crept up to me as I rolled my eyes.  
"Who killed my sister?" she said in a dark nasal voice. She pointed a finger at me, "Was it – "  
"Yes! It was bloody me!" I bellowed at her. "I swear if neither of you tell me what's going on and what you did to my friends I'll find a six story mansion and drop it on the both of you!"

The Good Witch gave a simpering giggle and waved her magic wand. I glanced at my feet and there they were, the sparkling ruby slippers.  
"Those are my slippers," she said with buggy eyes. "Give them back to me. Give them back!"

I gaped at her. My words had no effect on either of them. It was as though I was in the middle of a prerecorded scene.  
"Look, I just want to find the Doctor," I said, more calmly.  
"No Doctor will save you my pretty after what I plan to do to you," she advanced on me, her lips thinning over her yellow teeth. Though I knew she was only a character in a story, she was still rather frightening and for all I knew she could very well hurt me.  
"Oh rubbish!" Glinda (I'd just remembered her name) said. "You have no power here. Be gone before somebody drops a house on you too!"

The dialogue was verbatim. It was exactly as I remembered the film aside from the absence of the Munchkins. The Wicked Witch glared at the both of us and backed away saying her departing line, "I'll get you my pretty. And you're little dog too!" With the classic witch's cackle she vanished. The dog, Toto, was still yipping at her even after she'd gone.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache coming on as I brushed a braid of hair off of my neck. Where could they have gotten to? I was trying not to be more worried for myself than for them but I was obviously the one that was more out of her element than the Doctor or Jack ever seemed to be. I turned to the Good Witch of the North, "If it's all the same to you and if you're not going to help me I already know the way," I said, pointing to the yellow brick road.

"Don't stray from the story," she said. It sounded more like a warning than a threat.  
"It's not like you're giving me a choice," I snapped back at her.  
She nodded, looking satisfied and with a wave of her magic stick began to fade away.

I sighed and looked around the colorful land. I was alone again – well, almost alone. I looked down at the little dog, "I guess it's just you and me, mate."  
We started walking. The ruby slippers were pretty but rather stiff as I came to discover. As my mind wandered I began to worry about where the Doctor and Jack could have ended up. What if they were stuck in stories all their own as I was and couldn't get out? If that was true, what happens to us when we reach the end of our stories? Or, even more terrifying, what if I'm never allowed to leave and I have to repeat this over and over again?

I shuddered at the thought as I was progressing out of the Munchkinless Munchkin Land. The tiny houses became less and less abundant. With every step was the gentle jingling at my heels. Dorothy's faithful Toto kept up his pace with mine and followed me as though he actually belonged to me. I'd never been a dog person, Mum was allergic to them anyway. But I couldn't exactly push him away. After all, he was all I had at the moment.


	2. Chapter 2 Story's Edge

Chapter 2 – Story's Edge

The cursed shoes were beginning to get on my nerves. The first thing that amazed me about them was the fact that when they were on my feet they seemed to fit. Now, however, I was finding out the hard way that they were not made for walking. I would've given anything for my comfortable trainers.  
Munchkin Land was a distance behind Toto and me and in front of us was a great expanse of rolling cornfields and beyond that was a great forest – just as it looked in the film only I was able to see some of the small ripples in the fabric backdrop that Judy Garland would walk towards.

Here, wherever here was, there was no mistaking the depth and the fact that the yellow brick road actually continued on its course through the corn fields and into the forest until it curved out of sight and my eyes couldn't follow it anymore.  
I let out a grunt and stopped on the road, thick stalks of corn edging the road on both sides. I muttered something about the blasted shoes as I took one off and rubbed my poor toes. Toto stood beside me and caught my eye as I put my foot down on the ground, the shoe still in my hand.

"Were do you reckon we really are?" I asked him as I took off the other shoe and wiggled freedom back into my cramped foot and toes.  
Toto wagged little stub of a tail in reply.  
"I don't know either," I sighed and walked on the hard road in my stocking feet for a little while.

I think Toto heard it first. He stopped walking with me. I only noticed because his little bell wasn't jingling next to me. I stopped a few steps ahead of him and turned around. The little thing was still as stone, his ears pricked and his legs stretched, making him as tall as he possibly could be.  
"What is it?" I said as I walked back to him.  
He twitched his little body but stood his ground. Then I finally heard it. Someone was moving through the corn stalks. They sounded close. I heard the thick flapping and brushing of the stalks and leaves but I couldn't see anyone else around. A few stalks swayed with movement several meters away from us but I couldn't figure out if it was a person or an animal or, heaven forbid, a Munchkin.

Whatever it was, it was moving clumsily towards us. It fell to the ground once. I heard the rush of the leaves and a thud on the dirt and then soft cursing afterwards. I glanced around helplessly as it came closer. I had nothing to defend myself with save for a pair of magic shoes that I still held in my hand and a yipping dog that apparently believed he was actually the size of a saint bernard.

More grumbling and moving in the stalks when a figure stumbled out onto the road in front of us. I gripped the front of one of the shoes, ready to smack whatever it was with the heel if I had to. It definitely was a person. He was tall and thin, wearing patched trousers that were badly frayed at the bottom, an old button down shirt that also was patched to within an inch of its life and what looked like soft fabric shoes on his feet. Clumps and chunks of straw stuck out from his clothes and from beneath the raggedy hat he wore on his head.

"Of course," I said, lowering the shoe as he looked at me. "You're the first one Dorothy meets on the way to Emerald City, that's right. Scarecrow."  
The Scarecrow approached me, a rustle and crunching noise of straw with every movement he made. His face looked as though it was made of canvass or burlap with stitches in random places along the nose and forehead. But the eyes were real…big brown eyes. "Hold on," Scarecrow said as he got a better look at me. "Alice?"

The brown eyes and the mouth were the same beneath that strange face – I still knew him.  
"Doctor!" I squealed. Toto jumped at my side in surprise.  
Scarecrow smiled the same smile I knew and scooped me up in a grateful hug. I held onto him tightly, thanking the maker that he was alright and more so that we'd found each other.

He held me in front of him to have a look at me as he brushed some of the straw off of my dress, "You okay?"  
"I don't know," I said, holding up my suddenly long hair. "Weren't you supposed to be stuck on a pole or something?"  
"I started out that way, hanging from my shirt but I found that this was still on my person," he pulled the sonic screwdriver from the depths of his straw stuffed shirt. "I got myself down and started looking for you."

"Do you know what's going on or where we are?"  
"Not entirely, no," he looked at my frock as though it was the first time he'd seen it and then the shoes that were still in my hands, "The shoes are a nice touch," he said as he nodded. "But what are you supposed…" his eyes lost focus and drifted for a moment as it dawned on him who I was and who he was supposed to be.

"Yep, I met the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch already," I said when he refocused on me. "We're supposed to continue the story," I put the shoes back on much to the chagrin of my feet.  
"And then what?"  
I shrugged, "I don't know. She wouldn't help me."  
"Who?"  
"Glinda, the Good Witch of the North."

The Doctor nodded as he looked around.  
"I guess we're not in London as originally planned," I joked bitterly.  
"We're not in Kansas either," he scratched his head beneath the raggedy hat. "We did land somewhere but it wasn't here. The TARDIS would have detected all of this life and space," he thought out loud.

"Are we being held prisoner for something?" I suggested.

The Doctor shook his head with a scratchy crunching noise as though he really were made out of straw, "No one would use so much power to create this world for prisoners. It's much easier to keep them locked up."  
"Have you seen Jack?" I felt a small prick of guilt that I'd forgotten about him in light of finding the Doctor.  
"I was hoping he might've been with you,"  
I brushed my obnoxious hair behind my shoulders as I shook my head. I bit my lip trying not to be worried. Jack was a very capable man from what I knew of him, he'd be able to handle himself in most situations if you asked me. But I couldn't be certain and that's what had me worried.

Toto barked at my heels and the Doctor looked down at the small dog standing in between us. He squatted down and scratched the dog behind the ears. I knelt down next to him, my eyes flicking in between him and Toto.  
"You don't think – ," I gasped and crouched down lower to look Toto in the face. "Jack?" I said squeakily.  
The dog panted and wagged his tail. The Doctor's hand was still on his little head. A few seconds later he pulled away, looking satisfied, "It's a dog, Alice." He got to his feet, offering his hand to me and helped me back up.

"What did the witches say? Tell me exactly." He tried putting his hands in his pockets but the ratty trousers didn't seem to come with them so he compromised by folding his arms in front of him.  
I went back over what happened from finding myself in the gray house to the Munchkin Land with no Munchkins in it and Glinda's warnings to stay with the story.  
"It's the film, not the story," the Doctor interrupted. "In the actual story they're silver slippers, not ruby. And I've still got my brains apparently." He patted the hat on top of his head.

"So is this real or is it just some sort of hallucination or delusion?" I asked.  
"It's real enough. It might be some sort of hologram but it's an extremely sophisticated one at that," he said as he stepped closer to a stalk of corn at the edge of the road and examined it. He straightened up again and looked at me, "Looks like we'll have to continue the story for now," he shrugged and looked around again. "It's quite pretty."  
"Oh yes," I said. "I'm planning to build a summer home here in this world that's not supposed to exist!"

"But isn't that what you always imagine doing, Alice?" he said, his eyes brightening. "Falling into worlds that have only existed on paper or on the telly? Every child _longs_ for that to happen to them sometime in their life. I know there's a fairy tale or two you wanted to be a part of."  
"Yes," I caved. "I wanted to be _Sleeping Beauty_ because her hair was long and blonde and all of the animals in the forest came to her and understood her when she spoke."  
The Doctor smiled and nodded. "Exactly,"

"What about you?"  
He raised his eyebrows as he thought for a minute, "I've always had an objection to gravity as a whole. It is rather restricting which is why I enjoyed _The Matrix_ so much I think. They were able to bounce off walls and fly through the air simply through the control of their own minds over the world they were in." he said as he scratched his head again.  
I laughed at the wistful expression on his face. "So, let's continue the story," I said.

He winked and offered me his arm. I took it and we started down the road again.  
"I refuse to sing and dance about," he said sternly as we walked.  
"I wouldn't worry too much about that. This version isn't even an accurate version of the film," I said.  
The Doctor looked at me curiously and I explained again about the absence of Munchkins, no music or singing, and the fact that Dorothy could never physically remove the slippers when I had just done so to get the blood back into my feet.  
He mulled it over in his head as we walked.

A half hour went by, or so I guessed. There was no way to tell time in that place. For one thing, I didn't have a watch and for another, there didn't seem to be any proper point of origin for the light in this place. It was just lit up like the sun would light up the outside but I couldn't find the sun in the sky.  
The blasted ruby slippers were pinching the life out of my feet as we continued down the road. The Doctor would stop us once in a while to examine a plant or a tree or a cottage we would pass by in search of some sort of controls or power matrix. There was nothing. The world seemed to be separate from anything and everything else in the universe.

All of it was real, the smells, the sound of bird song in the trees, the touch of the road beneath our feet – all of it was real which had me questioning if I'd actually and finally lost it.  
The corn fields stopped and turned into thick, colorful forests.

"If I remember right," I said, pointing at the trees. "This is where Dorothy gets hungry and tries to pick some apples."  
"Are you sure there aren't any bananas anywhere?"  
I walked up to one of the apple trees and reached for a particularly shiny red apple but the Doctor caught my hand and pulled it back down. "You do remember what happens after she picks an apple, don't you?" he said, looking wary.  
"Yeah, but I'm following the story," I said.

"I don't feel much like getting pelted with apples at the moment."  
"What do you suggest?" I said, putting my hands on my hips.  
"I suggest we find out who the Tin Man is seeing as how you're Dorothy and I'm Scarecrow," he said smartly.  
"Jack's the Tin Man," I said, amazed that I hadn't thought about it before.  
"Probably the only one I know who can survive without a heart," the Doctor joked.

He moved through the trees with Toto and me following behind. A thick dark branch swung low and hit the Doctor in the chest, knocking him backwards.  
"Doctor!" I knelt down next to him, putting my arm around him to help him sit up. "Are you alright?"  
"That may leave a mark," he said, holding onto me.

Toto started barking. His little face was pointed upwards. The Doctor and I followed where Toto was looking and I nearly collapsed the rest of the way to the ground.  
"What do you think you're doing?" a low gravelly voice said.  
It came from the tree that had knocked the Doctor down. The face was composed of knots and gashes in the bark of the trunk that created two eyes, a nose and a crooked mouth. It glared down at us waiting for an answer.

"Why have you brought us here?" the Doctor said.  
"Go and find your own apples," the tree replied.  
The Doctor and I exchanged glances as we helped each other up. "I want you to tell me where I am first," the Doctor spoke slowly and clearly.

The tree grunted and shook its leaves but didn't reply.  
"It's part of the story," the Doctor said. "That's all it knows."  
We ducked another swing from the tree and stumbled back onto the road. The trees were beginning to sway and move with and against the wind. "Doctor," I said, staring around with wide eyes. "I think they're getting angry."

He shushed me and held up his hand as he listened. "Do you hear that?" he whispered.  
I listened sharply. Above the grumbling and moaning of the trees was a sort of clanging, violent thrashing noise coming from far off.  
"Come on," the Doctor took my hand and we quickly moved down the road several meters, Toto trotting along at our heels.  
"That banging," I said as we stopped to listen again. It was closer and much louder. The Doctor broke into a run and I clamored after him in the pinching shoes with Toto barking close behind.

The Doctor ran around the bend in the road, shedding a trail of straw behind him as he went, and I chased after him, holding a stitch in my side. I came around and saw the Doctor greeting a man made entirely of metal. If I hadn't known better I would've turned on my heel and ran in the other direction as fast as I could because the metal man reminded me sharply of the Cyberman invasion that happened a few years before on Earth.  
I'd kept safe by locking myself in the cellar and keeping deathly quiet until for some reason I still couldn't figure out, they were called off of the streets.

But it was the Tin Man most certainly. I approached the two men, both already in rapid conversation.  
"...it's too detailed to be a hologram," the Tin Man was saying.  
"Yes, so either we've all been kidnapped and this is some sort of elaborate idea to make us lose our minds or it's all in our heads," the Doctor said, pulling a loose chunk of straw from his sleeve.

"Jack," I said breathlessly. "It's good to see you."  
The Tin Man smiled that big smile I recognized and took my hand in a squeeze.  
"I'd hug you Alice but I'm not the most cuddly thing around at the moment," he rapped his knuckles on his metal barrel chest.  
"There's a change," the Doctor said.  
"You know you'll miss it until this is over," Jack said, his eyes twinkling at the Doctor.

Everything about Jack was metallic. Even his face and eyes had a silver sheen about them. Jack stepped back with a clang and observed the Doctor and me for a moment until his eyes moved to my shoes.  
"Oh great," he said. "Well, that explains a lot."  
"I know," I said.

Toto yipped at my heels and Jack laughed as I bent down and scratched Toto's head. A rush went through the trees next to us. I barely got a glimpse of the Doctor's back before he disappeared into the trees. Jack and I didn't hesitate and ran into the woods after him. I was dong my best not to fall and sprain my ankle in the ridiculous shoes. Jack was just behind me sounding like a one man percussion section with all the clanging and banging he created as he ran.

The Doctor had stopped and stood in one spot, his eyes fixed on a point somewhere further ahead of him.  
"Doctor, what – "  
He held up his hand for quiet and gestured for us to follow, walking carefully across a small clearing towards a thicker clump of trees. He reached behind him and without thinking I put my hand in his. He grabbed a hold tightly and pulled me with him into the trees. His hand felt like a thick wad of canvass was wrapped around my hand.

I reached out for Jack behind me and felt a cold metal touch on my fingers but I held onto him as best as I could. The Doctor led us through the trees which became thicker and thicker the deeper we went to the point that I was having a hard time finding my footing. The boys had to help to keep me upright as we walked. Low branches and shrubs scratched out at my legs but the Doctor continued.

"Oh yes," the Doctor said quietly and then turned to Jack and me. "We're not following the story, correct?"  
"Not exactly," I muttered back to him.  
"They haven't planned for us to go off course at all," the Doctor's eyes darted around. "But," he lifted his finger to me. "We strayed from the yellow brick road to find the edge."  
"The edge of what?" Jack asked.  
"The story," he replied, his eyes were nearly round as plates and I could almost see the intensity in his voice.

The Doctor lifted his foot and gingerly stepped forward and moved some thick branches out of the way. I gasped and moved forward next to the Doctor while trying to keep my balance at the same time. Behind the row of shrubs and trees was the white space we had landed in originally. The ground and forest stopped dead and the white space continued forever beyond the world we stood in.

"This couldn't have been here before," I said.  
"It wasn't," the Doctor said. "Nothing ever magically appears out of nowhere either. This has to do with us somehow."  
"Do not stray from the story,"

The three of us twitched around in surprise. Glinda stood elegantly next to us in the foliage completely unscathed by the thick branches and brambles that grabbed at her dress. She didn't appear angry as I thought she might, only firm. As for the Doctor, he pushed his way in front of us nearly knocking me over in the process. Thankfully, I fell into Jack which felt like falling into a rock. But he was able to stabilize me back on my feet.

"Why? Why do we have to continue the story? What happens if we don't?" the Doctor was saying.  
"So many questions," Glinda said calmly. "The story must continue for us to learn and for you to live. Unfinished stories come with a terrible price."  
"If we finish the story will you let us go?" I said.

Glinda observed me for a moment but didn't answer.  
"So we're imprisoned either way?"  
"Well that's not very fair," Jack added.

A grumble came from the Doctor as he took a hold of my hand again, "What about my ship?"  
"It is unharmed," Glinda answered.  
"Comforting," Jack said, his eyes narrowing.

The Doctor's eyes were narrowed into slits as he approached Glinda, "You don't know do you?" he said.  
She said nothing.  
"You've only been told that it's a terrible price if we don't go through with the story. You don't really know what would _happen_ either way, do you?"  
Glinda only returned his glare with innocent glittering eyes. The Doctor turned back to us. "She's just like the others. She's part of this place," he said, lifting up his hands and waving them around. "She has a little more information but not enough to help us."

"Do not stray from the story," Glinda said again.  
"Are you getting as tired of this as I am?" the Doctor said to Jack.  
"Absolutely," Jack replied.

"Given the choices my Good Witch, I'd rather be imprisoned on my own terms. First thing though, I'm going to find out what's behind all of this."  
Glinda stepped towards us but the Doctor yanked me back to the edge of the woods. All I could do was scream as he dragged me to the last row of trees and bushes and hold onto him for dear life when we leaped off of the edge of the story. A loud clanging indicated that Jack was right behind us.


	3. Chapter 3 Phael

Chapter 3 – Phael

We fell and fell. Down, down, down. I clutched the Doctor to me through the endless nothingness. I screamed, the Doctor holding onto me as we shed straw into the vast whiteness. My eyes clamped shut when we finally landed in a heap on a floor, not the ground as I'd originally expected. A thud landed close by, presumably Jack. I didn't open my eyes and still clung with all of my strength to the thin figure of the Doctor though we didn't seem to be moving anymore and we were actually still alive.

A few high pitched squeaks erupted around us. I kept my eyes squeezed shut and my arms tightly around the Doctor, the only thing I believed to be real at that moment. He held onto me but was able to orient himself much faster than I did. "It's okay, Alice. Well…we've landed anyway," the Doctor muttered in my ear.

I opened my eyes and peered over the Doctor's shoulder. Tiny little feet were standing a meter or so away from us belonging to the back of a person I couldn't make out. I only could decipher that the person was rather small.  
The Doctor and I were lying on the floor in a space in between two narrow and uncomfortable looking beds.  
"Are you alright?" he asked me.  
"I'm fantastic, you?"

He replied with a small smirk as a pair of hands reached down to help us up. We both grabbed a hand and Jack pulled us both to our feet which allowed me to get a better look at the room. It was small with a low ceiling. Three adult size beds made of metal sat in the middle of the room with controls and blinking lights along the edges and at the head.

"Is it me," the Doctor began. "Or does it look like we've been held in some sort of laboratory?" He slipped on his specs and bent over one of the beds to get a better look at the controls.  
"It's not just you," Jack said. "Looks like we just fell out of bed."

The fear of falling through space began to fade and I observed the Doctor and Jack for the first time since I opened my eyes. "You're back to normal," I blurted, touching the fabric of the Doctor's blue suit coat. "Both of you are you again."  
I put my hands to my head and felt the short cropped hair, also realizing I was wearing my jeans and t-shirt instead of the blue and white checked dress. My trainers were comfortably back on my feet instead of those cursed ruby slippers.  
The Doctor rubbed a hand over his face as Jack examined his arms and hands. "Hah, I was right. It was all in our heads," the Doctor swatted Jack on the shoulder.

Our conversation hadn't gone unheard. The four people at the controls turned around and looked completely helpless as t what to do with us as we were twice their size. The panels they'd been working at were about two feet off the floor and hit them at what I assumed to be their waists.  
Their eyes were large and bright, their mouths were small lines on their faces and the hair was the most interesting bit. All of them had copious amounts of white curly hair on their heads that stuck out in every direction. But their faces looked so young, childlike and small beneath the large amount of hair.

The four little things stared blankly up at us, their tiny hands trembling slightly at their sides. If I had to put a word to their facial expressions, I would have said that they were scared senseless.  
I squatted down in front of them, the Doctor next to me.  
"Hello there," he said in a gentle voice.  
"Hello," I said afterwards. "My name is Alice and these are my friends the Doctor and Jack. Can one of you tell me where we are?"

Their expressions didn't change at all. In fact I thought they were intensified if anything. I couldn't see any eyelids. All four of them then screamed bloody high screeching murder that frightened me so bad that I lost my balance and fell backwards on my rear. They stopped screaming and ran as fast as their little bodies would take them into a corner of the room, huddling together in one slightly larger clump and held their faces from us.

The Doctor pulled me back up as the three of us kept our eyes unblinkingly on the group of small frightened people in the corner.  
"Talk about being anti social," Jack said.  
"I think they're just scared," I said as I moved cautiously over to the corner they'd congregated in.

"Hello," I tried again without getting to close. I sat down on the floor in front of them, "I won't hurt you, I promise. What are your names?" I spoke as gently as possible but with little results unfortunately. One of the little white heads looked over its shoulder at me, met my eyes, yelped and then quickly turned back around, perhaps hoping the wall would absorb it.

I sighed and looked at the Doctor and Jack who'd wandered over with me. "Maybe they can't understand me."  
The Doctor shook his head and squatted down next to me, "The TARDIS can translate any language in our heads so we can understand it. That's how you were able to talk to the Gynil before. But I think you're right. I think they're terrified of us."

I hated the idea that such innocent looking creatures were afraid of me. I'd always loved children and handled them pretty well so I determinedly tried a different tactic that had worked for me before. I hunched my shoulders, sniffed and sighed heavily trying to sound as pathetic as I possibly could. I wrung my hands in my lap. "Oh," I whimpered. "Please don't be afraid of me. I didn't mean to scare you." I wiped my eyes as glanced up looking as pitiful as I could.  
The same little white head lifted up and looked at me. I quickly averted my eyes and sniffed again. "I'm sorry. It's just that my friends and me are lost and can't find our way back home. Our house is so little, you see, and I'm so afraid that we'll never find it again without any help."

I sniffled some more until the Doctor put his hand on my shoulder to get my attention. I glanced up again.  
The small huddle of little creatures had broken apart. All four of them were staring at me. One of them had their lower lip trembling, its eyes filling with tears. I sniffed once more and they rushed at me. The one that looked the saddest ran straight into my arms, burying its white haired head in my shoulder as it wrapped its tiny arms around my neck.

It was my turn to be shocked. I slowly raised my arms up to hold it. It felt like I was holding a two year old child in my arms, if that. The body was so small, warm and comforting. I closed my eyes and held it to me as though it were my own child. That was the feeling that came to me as I held it and I knew then that I would've done anything to protect it.

One of the others went to the Doctor, latching onto him in a similar way. The Doctor was a little more ready for his than I was for mine. He gratefully wrapped his arms around it and held it to him, allowing it to cry on his neck and shoulder. The last two grasped onto Jack's legs holding them tightly as though they were life preservers.

The one I held was sobbing as it tried to squeak words out. I patted it gently and rocked it back and forth, "Hush now. It's okay sweetheart. Don't cry darling."  
"We can't get back home either," it said in a small and high pitched voice as it wrapped its tiny arms around my neck.  
"Oh, it's alright," I glanced at the Doctor who was attempting to comfort the one that had run to him.

"If you can tell us where our home is maybe we can help you find yours," the Doctor said softly as Jack patted the heads of the two that had become permanent attachments to his legs.  
The one I held lifted its head and peered at me through wet eyes. I wiped the cheeks dry and kissed its forehead before I remembered it was an alien. "He tells us that this is our home now," it said.  
"Who says?" the Doctor replied sharply making the little person he held squeak a little in surprise.  
"Our owner,"  
"Owner?" I said, sounding shocked.

The little thing I held bit its lower lip and the eyes changed. They were still large and round but the color changed making them darker – deeper. But it didn't reply.  
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But my friends and I have to get back home. Do you know why we were brought here?"  
It nodded its head frantically, "We located the story in your minds and we were able use the phase shift to bring you here in order to generate the power matrix and store the information in the computers."

My eyes widened at the explanation. This tiny childlike thing was spouting off techno-babble like the Doctor or Jack would.  
"You wanted the story?" the Doctor said.  
"It is the basis of our lives," the one the Doctor held spoke for the first time. "Yours was different from the usual ones we collect."

The Doctor took in a sharp breath and his eyes popped out of his head. "You're Phael, aren't you?" he said looking around at them all.  
More over active nodding of the little white heads.  
"They're the Story Tellers, Alice," the Doctor said with an excited smile. "That's how they learn of the others in the universe. They study the stories of other races, other species." He looked down curiously at the one he held, "But you lot don't force the stories out of people like this. Why are you doing it like this?"

We had finally calmed them down and then suddenly, again, they all tensed up and buried their faces as though some frightening thing had just appeared in the room.  
"_He_ wants the stories now," they said in squeaky unison, sounding horrified again.

They didn't say anymore as the door burst open. The Doctor and I stood still holding our charges and were met with an enormous creature who clomped into the room with an angry growl and tiny cold eyes.  
"You stupid useless things! What do you think you're doing? Your story hasn't ended yet! And you _know_ the punishment for abandoning stories…" the voice was cold and rough but it helped me to understand why these poor little things were so afraid of beings that were larger than they were.


	4. Chapter 4 Small Healers

Chapter 4 – Small Healers

The huge man, I assumed it was a man, was…well, he was black. From what I could see of his skin, which was rough, almost looking as though it were made of tiny little scales, was black as coal. His eyes were small and black to match the rest of him with a small flat nose with large nostrils and a little mouth.  
His voice boomed through the lab, nearly shaking the panels and the metal beds. The little Phael I carried clung tighter to me and squeaked nearly choking me with the little arms that encircled my neck.

Jack and the Doctor weren't so easily daunted. As for myself, I was indecisive at the moment. I patted the back of my charge and tried to shush the poor little thing but I couldn't take my eyes away from the huge thing that stood in front of us. He wore a large plate of armor across his chest and stomach. A holster for an ugly looking weapon hung just below his waist. More armor covered his thighs and calves but his feet - well, I'll call them feet but it is most definitely a loose translation – were bare on the cold metal floor.

The Doctor and Jack, still holding onto their charges approached the huge creature, both of them staring defiantly up at him. The creature smiled an ugly smile, revealing short square teeth in his mouth.  
"You've woken up your Tellers," the smile grew in intensity and ugliness as he looked over the Doctor, Jack, and myself. "Now," he spoke to us. "Put them down and I will deal with them as need be."

"Are you completely out of your – " I began to say but the Doctor clapped his hand over my mouth, holding his little Phael with one arm and allowed me to speak my mind in muffled, indecipherable tones.  
"Hello," he said brightly, contrasting my tone of voice. "I'm the Doctor, this is Jack, and this one here is Alice." He surveyed the huge creature, who was standing still at the moment, taking in every detail and then looked back up at his face. "Ah! Nerostrom," the Doctor said to the room at large then he turned to Jack and me, his expression difficult to read. "We may be in a little trouble here."  
"Could you be a little more specific?" Jack said, his face looking worried.

The Nerostrom laughed a huge deafening laugh. "You three aren't in trouble, unless you wish to be." He grinned at me specifically. I sidestepped closer to the Doctor and Jack, still trying to comfort my Phael. "It's the foul creatures you're coddling in your arms that are in trouble for allowing you to wake and take pity on them." He lifted his hand that was roughly the size of the Doctor's head and swatted at one of the Phael that clung onto Jack.  
The little thing yipped like a wounded dog as its grip was yanked away from Jack by the blow and we watched, horrified, as the small body was flung across the room and hit a wall, sliding down to the floor.

The three of us stepped forward and bellowed at the brute at the same time. Jack and I were choosing more obscenities than the Doctor was at the moment. Without a thought in my head I did what any woman possessed with the natural protective maternal instincts would have done. I jumped up and with my free hand, slapped the Nerostrom across the face.  
Turned out that outburst of anger did me more damage than the Nerostrom. I pulled my hand back with a yell and looked at the inside of it. There were slashes that crisscrossed my palm and fingers, all of them seeping blood.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear," the Phael I held said as it looked at my hand and held it in its own tiny hands. "You're hurt."

The cuts stung madly and Jack was at my side, also cupping my hand in his as he searched his pockets and found a piece of cloth, pressing it into my hands. I blinked away the moisture in my eyes that had resulted from the pain and glanced angrily up at the Nerostrom.  
The smile had faded from his face and he observed me with an unreadable expression. I couldn't tell if it was impressed or angry with me because of what I did. The scales on his face seemed to flex and flatten more along the shape of his skull.

"Miss Alice is hurt," the Phael squeaked, the large eyes still focused on my hand. Jack was pressing his palm into mine, trying to stop the bleeding.  
"I'll be okay, sweetie. Don't – "

The Phael wasn't listening. The tiny hands lifted Jack's hand gently, then pulled the cloth off of my skin. My hand looked an absolute mess but the pain was secondary to my curiosity of what the Phael was trying to do. The little hands each with five chubby fingers held onto my wrist then moved to my palm. Tiny fingers traced over each cut and scratch. I didn't flinch at all. There was no stinging or feeling at all as the Phael traced over my injury.  
The Doctor, returning from the side of the room where the beaten Phael had fallen, curiously peered at my hand over Jack's shoulder. The unconscious Phael was cradled in his other arm but it appeared to be breathing.

As the fingertips of the Phael moved over my hand the bright red cuts from the sharp scales of the Nerostrom slowly faded back to my skin color and they seemed to close in on themselves, leaving the skin smooth as it was before. Jack cursed under his breath and I gasped.  
After my Phael had finished and lifted the tiny hands away from my own I stared and flexed my fingers. "All better," it said and gave me a kiss on my cheek.  
"How…" I said as my eyes met the lovely and miraculous creature that sat in my arms with a small smile on its tiny lips.  
"Brilliant," the Doctor muttered next to me.

"Please," my Phael was saying. "Let me see to Live." The short arms were reaching away from me to the Doctor.

"Enough of this!" the Nerostrom boomed again.  
I'd almost forgotten he was in the room with us. All eyes snapped up to him. His giant arms folded across his chest. The hard scales scratching up against each other sounding like bone on bone.

The Doctor lowered the unconscious Phael called Live to the floor, laying it gently down as I set my Phael on its feet and allowed it to help Live.  
"I completely agree," the Doctor said quietly, stepping in front of the Phael and myself, his eyes like daggers, staring unafraid up at the giant Nerostrom. "It would be better for everyone if you were patient for another minute or so and then you can show me what the hell is going on here."  
When traveling with the Doctor, there are always certain scenarios when I've seen him so angry, so set off by a situation that when he speaks it's like a spell in his voice or in his words. This was one of the situations where that took place, even Jack, the Phael, and I could hear it, and the Nerostrom couldn't help but obey. He nodded his large head and stayed silent as the Doctor turned back to the rest of us. I'm only thankful that he hasn't used that ability on me so far.

We all turned back to Live, the unconscious Phael, the Nerostrom looking on with narrowed eyes.  
"He'll be alright," said the Phael that I held, the tiny hands over Live's eyes and forehead.

"His name is Live," I said as I sat down next to them, crossing my legs. "What's your name?"  
"Hope," it answered.  
I smiled, looking from the Doctor, to Jack and back to Hope. "That's a name we use too. It's a name for girls where I come from."  
"As it is here," Hope answered. Her voice was so high pitched, like a child's, but when she held Live in her tiny hands and spoke to me she seemed as old as the Doctor. Perhaps she was.

The other two Phael, one of them being the one the Doctor had originall held, had attached themselves to Jack again and caught my eye, grinning excitedly at me. Their eyes could be so bright, it was mesmerizing.  
"And what are your names?" I said in a motherly tone. I must've asked what they wanted me to.  
The one on Jack's right spoke up first, "I'm Star."  
"And I'm Hero." The one on his left said happily.

The Doctor nodded in understanding, "The Phael choose their names from their favorite stories. They usually are happy, positive words because the stories they like most end happily."  
"They're all beautiful names," I said.

Live's large eyes fluttered and opened to see all of us looking over him. Hope was the closest. She stroked his snow white hair gently and smiled.  
"Thank you, Hope," Live said as he sat up and got to his feet, which wasn't a huge difference from him lying down on the floor.  
The rest of us stood. The three of us took our places protectively in front of the Phael. I could feel Hope's gentle touch on my leg as she peered around us and up at the Nerostrom.

"Now," the Doctor said. "Before you decide to do anything else in that remarkable brain of yours, I should tell you that I will not stand for any further violence against them." The serious tone was gone and he smiled at the large black creature. "So, let's start with you telling us where the hell we are and go from there. Sounds like a good plan, doesn't it?"  
He looked to Jack and I and we nodded in agreement.


End file.
